Food news and items of interest from around the Web for your weekend reading.

It’s Friday afternoon, and that means it’s time for me to give you a little weekend reading from around the web. Here are a few food related items that I thought might interest you.

Competing chefs are good news for some small farmers. As sourcing ingredients directly from local farms gains in popularity, more chefs are building relationships with farmers to get the pick of their crops.

THE former commandant of the elysian kitchen of Per Se, Jonathan Benno, was bouncing in the muddy bed of a Chevy pickup as it navigated 180 acres of vegetables at Barber Farms. It lurched to a stop before a row of weird, pointy-headed cabbages.

“Now, this interests me,” he said.

Jacob Hooper, the farm’s manager, plucked one and handed it to Mr. Benno, who nibbled a leaf and said, “It’s like a hearty lettuce, very mild.” The name of the cabbage, Caraflex, was unfamiliar, but he registered its taste for some future menu item.

In Portland, Ore., a city known for its deep do-it-yourself streak and poultry-permissive laws, two backyard farmers have stepped up to meet an unusual need: watching hens when their owners go on vacation.

In May, Rhonda Piasecki, 43, and Sharon Rowland, 35, launched Just Us Hens, which they believe is the nation's first chicken-sitting service.

Finally, if you’ve ever seen the movie “Bottle Shock” (you should if you haven’t) or read the book “Judgment in Paris” (you should if you’re interested in the history of wine in the U.S.) that the movie was based on, you’ll know about the 1976 wine tasting in Paris that put Napa Valley on the world wine map. One of the few remaining bottles of the history making wine was just sold at auction.

Head over to Decanter News to find out how much a bottle of 1973 Chateau Montelena Chardonnay went for.